Brasília - The 6th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization begins in Hong Kong today with representatives of almost 150 countries.

Representing Brazil are the ministers of Foreign Relations, Celso Amorim; Agrarian Development, Miguel Rossetto; Agriculture, Roberto Rodrigues; Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Luiz Fernando Furlan; and the head of the Special Secretariat for Fish, José Fritsch.

The Hong Kong meeting is expected to be dominated by controversial issues left over from the Doha Round (also known as the "development round"), mainly the question of agricultural subsidies. And it is exactly agriculture that ministers Furlan and Amorim will discuss today with other members of the G-20 group even before the conference officially gets underway.

Translation: Allen Bennett